On Friday, Delhi Court granted six months interim bail to JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who are slapped with sedition charges for raising ‘Anti-National’ slogans in university campus. Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh granted the bail plea of Umar and Anirban and directed both the accused to furnish Rs. 25,000 as surety amount.
During the hearing, the Delhi Police counsel had opposed their bail saying cops not only depended on video footage to prove their guilt but also had statements of 10 independent witnesses against the two.
“The slogans attempted to incite the mob. These two persons, Umar and Anirban, led the crowd which shouted anti-Indian slogans. The police has also recovered two cellphones which established that anti-Indian slogans were raised by Khalid and Bhattacharya during the event,” the prosecution said. The prosecution also said that posters used for the event were recovered from the emails of the two students – thereby proving that they were the main organisers of the event which took place even after permission was withdrawn by the JNU administration.
A five-member high-level inquiry committee constituted to probe the controversial February 9 event at the university has concluded that Umar and Anirban facilitated unauthorised entry of some people into the campus.
Delhi Police on Wednesday had told the court that the two JNU students led the crowd which shouted anti-Indian slogans.
The duo had told the court that allegations levelled against them of raising “anti-national slogans” hailing Afzal Guru are “false” and that they should be granted bail on these grounds.
The duo further stated that they “have deep roots in the society” and would not flee from justice during the investigation.
